Will Russia's aggressive retaliation against Georgia have much resonance for voters in the presidential campaign between Senators Barack Obama and John McCain?

That question is being asked a lot, especially during a campaign year when voters are focused on domestic matters like the economic slowdown, energy prices, the housing meltdown, the credit crunch et al.

Some of the conventional Washington wisdom is that the warfare Russia-Georgia crisis won't affect voters in a significant way.

"The truth is it probably won't have much impact at all -- the sad truth, perhaps," said Democratic consultant Mark Mellman. But he said that if the issue does affect voters, "it gives McCain a slight advantage."

"Americans wishing to spend August vacationing with their families or watching the Olympics may wonder why their newspapers and television screens are filled with images of war in the small country of Georgia. Concerns about what occurs there might seem distant and unrelated to the many other interests America has around the world. And yet Russian aggression against Georgia is both a matter of urgent moral and strategic importance to the United States of America.

"Georgia is an ancient country, at the crossroads of Eastern Europe and Central Asia, and one of the world's first nations to adopt Christianity as an official religion. After a brief period of independence following the Russian revolution, the Red Army forced Georgia to join the Soviet Union in 1922. As the Soviet Union crumbled at the end of the Cold War, Georgia regained its independence in 1991, but its early years were marked by instability, corruption, and economic crises.

"Following fraudulent parliamentary elections in 2003, a peaceful, democratic revolution took place, led by the U.S.-educated lawyer Mikheil Saakashvili. The Rose Revolution changed things dramatically and, following his election, President Saakashvili embarked on a series of wide-ranging and successful reforms. I've met with President Saakashvili many times, including during several trips to Georgia.

"What the people of Georgia have accomplished in terms of democratic governance, a Western orientation, and domestic reform is nothing short of remarkable. That makes Russia's recent actions against the Georgians all the more alarming. In the face of Russian aggression, the very existence of independent Georgia and the survival of its democratically-elected government are at stake.

Note that McCain mentions that Georgia was one of the first nations to make Christianity its official religion. That is clearly meant to send a signal to evangelicals and other Americans that they should sit up and take notice of what's happening in the Caucasus region.

If that wasn't enough to awaken the interest in what's happening in Georgia in American voters, McCain went on to warn that Russian aggression could spread to other former Soviet republics, most importantly, Ukraine, as Russia tries to roll back the pro-West democracies on its border. And let's not forget then important oil pipeline that runs through Georgia, McCain said.

"The implications of Russian actions go beyond their threat to the territorial integrity and independence of a democratic Georgia. Russia is using violence against Georgia, in part, to intimidate other neighbors such as Ukraine for choosing to associate with the West and adhering to Western political and economic values. As such, the fate of Georgia should be of grave concern to Americans and all people who welcomed the end of a divided of Europe, and the independence of former Soviet republics. The international response to this crisis will determine how Russia manages its relationships with other neighbors. We have other important strategic interests at stake in Georgia, especially the continued flow of oil through the Baku-Tblisi-Ceyhan pipeline, which Russia attempted to bomb in recent days; the operation of a critical communication and trade route from Georgia through Azerbaijan and Central Asia; and the integrity an d influence of NATO, whose members reaffirmed last April the territorial integrity, independence, and sovereignty of Georgia.

For any latter-day isolationist, McCain had one more message. He alluded to the wars that engulfed much of humankind in the last century, both world wars for instance, the former which started with the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, in Bosnia; the latter which began with Nazi Germany's invasion of Czechoslovakia.

... World history is often made in remote, obscure countries. It is being made in Georgia today. It is the responsibility of the leading nations of the world to ensure that history continues to be a record of humanity's progress toward respecting the values and security of free people.

So if voters ultimately don't get exercised over what's now occurring in Georgia, it won't be for McCain's lack of trying.

Comments

Is James a shill for Obama? This is the most sophomoric piece of writing I have ever seen from a "reporter". Your nuances over-shadow the McCain message and I suggest that is what you had in mind.

My guess is that the Russia/Georgia conflict will have little impact on the election. i agree with Democratic consultant Mark Mellman: that's sad. But it's also worrisome. Russia is still a superpower with big ambitions, wounded pride and a leader who is in some ways a latter day Stalin. And the US is not the bulwark against Russia that it once was.
There are dark days ahead.

Insert this into McCheney's comments..... it's time for the U.S. to send in the troops, We will be greeted as liberators with flowers, their oil profits will pay for the war and reconstuction, this has something to do with 9/11. Now repeat over & over & over & over until our troops have been there 5 years.

If Obama wins the election you can be sure that Russia will test him. Just like they tested rock star Kennedy by making Cuba a missile silo . They fear Mccain because he is known to not trust the former KGB president and to speak open against him. Obama will have no influance over Russia. People need to understand this.

Right Dan; McCain does't do nuance; just saber rattling....even if he doesn't have a saber. One does wonder what Bush and Putin were doing hanging out together at the Olympics while this is going on (comparing notes on invading sovereign nations, perhaps.).

"I looked the man in the eye. I found him to be very straightforward and trustworthy….I was able to get a sense of his soul." —George W. Bush, after meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin, June 16, 2001
_________________________

Adultery cast a shadow on a person's ethics. However, it does not necessarily mean that the offending person would be a bad president unless; the said affair affects tax payers, credibility of the person, the office he/she occupies or the one being aspired for.

John McCain had a well-documented affair on his first wife, with his current wife. He has admitted this in books he has written about his life that he ran around with several different women while still married to his first wife. And don't forget that he left her for a younger, richer woman who is now Cindy McCain. He then later went on to cheat on Cindy with lobbyist Vicki Iseman.

Vicki Iseman represented telecommunication companies on the Senate Commerce Committee that John chaired. They contributed tens of thousands of dollars to McCain's campaigns. In return, McCain championed de-regulation for them. He pressured the FCC to uphold marketing agreements allowing a television company to control two stations in the same city. He introduced a bill to create tax incentives program for them. Two times, he tried to advance legislation that would permit a company to control television stations in overlapping markets (an important issue for Vicki's largest client). If John Edwards' political career is over, why isn't John McCain's? Is John credible enough to be trusted to serve as our next President?

Maybe he can answer a question....
John McCain's top foreign-policy adviser, Randy Scheunemann, is a leading expert on U.S.-allied Georgia -- and was a paid lobbyist for the former Soviet republic until March, in the run-up to what has become a major battle between Georgia and Russia.

Mr. Putin has done the Republicans a great service, right on time !! Let's get that war machine cranked up again. Be it ours or the Russians, our partner in wars!! Just in time for our elections, now the Republicans can get into their warrior, patriotic and statesman costumes. Shake, rattle them sabers and roll out the tanks !! Here comes that political war machine of the Republicans. It can scare the heck out of the best of us, just ask that Republican intellectual, Carl Rove. Oops, sorry for the oxymoron, folks. I didn't mean to debase the word intellectual !!
SUPPORT OUR TROOPS, BRING THEM HOME, ALIVE AND WHOLE. NOW.

The comments laced thru the article were lib-stupid as usual.Obama's first remarks were ' can't we all just get along' type of comments. Not impressive in the least. You can smooth talk your way into the hearts of some Americans, but the mind set in other countries are not at all like ours, as one of the post above me points out by their warfare vs ours.

McCain broke it down and explained a lot we didn't know, and he didn't attempt to hide that Georgia opperates as a Democracy, Nato was wanting to include them, they are religious and he names it as Christianity, and he mentions the oil. He ALSO said that their leader was educated in America. * He said that we need to get public support (which listing off the above could certainly do amongst many with diff interests) which sure would go a long way when trying to light a fire for action from the U.N. .

I don't see where McCain tried to mislead, he didn't leave out hot button items that stir stupidity from the left, he layed it all out on the table. It's a great way to get some quick action, unless lib media spends all this valuable time getting caught up on who they hate the most rather than helping Georgia. They can be so blinded by stupid they lose all repect from the public.

I fully expect to win in Georgia this November. And then we'll push the Russian Army into Florida! HA! That will teach all of those old people and the Cubans who vote for McCain a lesson they won't forget!

He is such a war monger and loves war...He is worse then Bush and will use force right away. This man will cause World War III and everyone should e worried about allowing Sen McCain in office EVERYONE

This would be another war for OIL as Cheney is involved with getting oil from the Black Sea.....this is another WAR FOR OIL the Neocons want and with McCain they know how much he loves WAR they have someone even more willing to listen to him then ush

The pro-McCain squad is being awfully rosy about a country it doesn't know much about. The problem with McCain's speech is:

a) He phrases it as Russian aggression, although the Russians were responding to a military action that GEORGIA instigated in Ossetia.

b) He sets up the Georgia government as "formerly corrupt, but they like totally cleaned it up seven years ago." Yeah effing right.

Just last fall, the Georgian police were attacking peaceful protests, specifically targeting independent journalists, and forcibly shut down several local TV stations that were sympathetic to opposition parties.

There are no good guys in this mess. McCain just wants to paint it that way so Americans will feel justified in getting indignant over something they really don't care about beyond its effect on gas prices.

The Georgia war is a huge boost for McCain. This incident has awakened a huge fear in the American people. It sounds like most of you haven't been around very long. In families all over America the elders are telling their children about ducking under your desk at school during the atom bomb drills. Most people know that the world was very close to Armageddon during the Cuban Missile Crisis. In times of uncertainty people look to the strongest leader. They quit worrying about Social Security when they start worrying if won't matter in a month.

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